Deep Dive DC: Wes Looks at Almost Got 'Im

Welcome friends to our final bonus installment of Deep Dive DC month. Noting that there were actually five weekends in the month of May this year, I decided to fill the extra time by covering a classic episode of Batman: The Animated Series, the show that served as the introduction of Batman for many young children in the 90’s, myself included. As such, many of the versions of the classic comic book characters we see in this show are often thought of as the definitive versions by many, again, myself included. The show ran on the Fox Kids Saturday morning block, and later on Kids WB from 1992 to 1998 with one hundred and nine episodes to its name. There may be some dispute as to the previous statement since some consider the New Batman Adventures to be separate from Batman the Animated series due to the drastic change in animation, but since it’s clearly the same characters and mostly the same voice cast, I consider the it to all be one show. Mind you, you could technically say that about the entire DC Animated Universe, but that’s a topic too big to tackle here. If you are curious and want to learn more about the DCAU, I'd recommend checking out a YouTuber called J’s Reviews. He did a full retrospective of the entire DCAU from the start of Batman the Animated Series to the end of Batman Beyond and everything in between and I found it quite entertaining. Check it out if you like, but I warn you, it’s quite long. In any case, to determine which episode we’d be covering, I put up a poll on my Twitter with four options, each containing an episode from each of the show’s four seasons. Mad Love, the episode that finally showed us the tragic origin story of Harley Quinn. Baby Doll, an emotional episode that introduced an entirely new villain who sadly never quite made the leap to comic pages that the aforementioned Harley did. Heart of Ice, the Emmy Award winning episode the gave us what is now considered the definitive origin of Mr. Freeze and of course, the subject of today’s article, which also happens to be my favorite episode, the classic, Almost Got ‘Im. I don’t want to go into too much more detail than that since I really want the episode to speak for itself and honestly, I’m just stoked as hell to talk about this classic, so let us waste no further time and get into, Almost Got ‘Im.

Our episode opens in some sleazy hole in the wall dive bar in some dingy corner of Gotham where The Joker, Two-Face, Killer Croc and The Penguin are hiding from the law and about to sit down to a nice friendly game of poker, or at least as friendly as it can be with these guys involved. They’re soon soon joined by Poison Ivy who kicks Croc out of his chair and asks to be dealt in. This leads to a hilarious interaction between Ivy and Two-Face. Apparently, half of him wants to strangle her and the other half wants to hit her with a truck. Ivy brushes this off and tells the others that they used to date. Not only is this line hilarious, it’s also a nice callback to the episode that introduced Poison Ivy to the show. Naturally, it isn’t long before the subject of conversation turns to that of the Batman and an argument quickly ensues over which one of them has come the closest to offing the Bat for good. Joker speaks up and says that since they each have an “Almost Got ‘Im” story, they’ll make a game out of it. Each of them will take turns telling their story and in the end they’ll decide who’s truly come the closest to killing Batman. Joker firmly believes his is the best, but since he’s a good sport, he’ll go last and give the others a chance. He then volunteers Poison Ivy to go first.

Poison Ivy’s Story

Ivy’s story takes place on Halloween. Apparently, Ivy has rigged a bunch of jack-o-lanterns to emit poison gas when lit. When Batman shows up to the pumpkin patch for the antidote, Ivy has him right where she wants him, tossing a poison gas pumpkin that temporarily stuns Batman. Oh Pamela, I think Norman Osbourne’s lawyers would like a word with you. Batman gets back up and knocks over some lights, setting the pumpkin patch on fire and causing the poisoned pumpkins to explode, releasing the toxic gas. The gas quickly becomes too much for Batman and he goes down for the count. Ivy is unaffected due to her natural immunity against poisons, toxins and the pain and suffering of others, so she leaves Batman to die. Before he loses consciousness, Batman hits a button that activates the Batmobile’s autopilot, taking down Ivy and allowing Batman to retrieve a gas mask.

Back in the bar, Joker is giving Ivy a hard time for her use of exploding pumpkins. Ivy says she’d like to see him do better, but Joker is still saving the best for last. That means Two-Face is up. By the way, I’m not sure if this was intentional, but I like that Two-Face goes second. It’s very on brand for the character.

Two-Face’s Story

Two-Face’s story takes us to a time when he had just robbed the Gotham mint of two million worth of two-dollar bills. Batman tries to stop him, but he is overwhelmed by Two-Face’s very large goons known as “The Two-Ton Gang.” I’ll say this for Batman’s rogue’s gallery, they commit to their gimmicks. Two-Face’s coin flip comes up tails, which means Batman has to die. Two-Face even has the forethought to remove Batman’s utility belt before tying him up. Two-Face’s death trap ends up being pretty wild. The thugs tie him to a giant penny and plan to flip it using a large seesaw like apparatus. If it lands on tails, Batman will be squashed flat. If it comes up heads, it will just break every bone in his body. While Two-Face is gloating, he finds that his coin is missing and quickly realizes that Batman is using it to sever his restraints. Batman escapes while the giant coin is in the air, dashing away as it lands on two of Two-Face’s thugs. It’s never outright stated, but, like, those guys are totally dead, right? Batman then takes out Two-Face and the rest of his goons with a forklift, before giving the villain back his coin, sarcastically saying “I owe you a dollar.”

Back in the bar, Two-Face laments the face that if it weren’t for the coin that he’s developed an unhealthy psychological dependence on, Batman would be dead right now. When asked what became of the giant penny, Two-Face says that they actually let him keep it. But enough of that, it’s time for Croc’s story.

Killer Croc’s Story

Now, what’s about to follow is simply amazing, often regarded as the greatest moment in the entire episode if not the entire series. My words cannot do it justice so instead, I’ll simply let you watch the scene in its entirety in the video below.

Brilliant. Absolutely brilliant. I think my favorite part has to be The Joker’s deadpan serious reaction. When not even The Joker will crack a smile at your misfortune, that’s when you know you’ve hit rock bottom, pun very much intended. In any case, it’s now Penguin’s turn. After a funny gag about Penguin’s extensive vocabulary, he begins telling his tale.

Penguin’s Story

In the weeks leading up to this story, Penguin had spread a rumor that he planned to steal a pair of priceless breeding condors from the Gotham City Zoo. In reality, this was an effort to draw out Batman and lure him into a trap. And indeed, when Batman thinks he has Penguin cornered at the zoo, he instead finds himself in, THE AVIARY OF DOOM, a name so cheesy even The Joker shakes his head at it. Penguin releases a swarm of hummingbirds who are attracted to Batman due to Penguin having sprayed him with nectar before he entered the aviary. The nectar itself is harmless, but the hummingbird’s poison tipped beaks, not so much. Batman hits the sprinkler system, inhibiting the hummingbird’s ability to fly, but not before they get a couple of scratches in. Batman reaches for an antidote, but finds himself attacked by a massive Cassowary with razor sharp talons. With very few options at his disposal, Batman picks up one of the hummingbirds and stabs the cassowary. Batman just stabbed a bird, with another bird. Weird comic book stuff like this is what I live for. Batman injects himself with the antidote but Penguin manages to escape.

Back at the bar, it’s finally Joker’s turn. Apparently, Joker’s story occurred only just the previous evening, and instead of telling the story, he’s brought a TV for them to watch it happen. Incidentally, I know not making sense is sort of The Joker’s MO, but he’s on the run right now, has he seriously been lugging around that TV this whole time?

Joker’s Story

It's the night before all of our favorite rogues met up in the bar and Joker has decided to highjack a talk show and plays host while the guests and audience are all held hostage. By the way, Joker playing late night host is absolutely brilliant. It feels like such a natural fit for the character and hey, if the supervillain game didn’t pan out, he might have been able to make a career out of it. This whole segment is filled with hilarious in-jokes and references to various late-night shows, specifically Johnny Carson and David Letterman and the whole thing is shown to us in black and white. It really gives the segment a unique feel and I am here for it. Moving right along, Joker announces his first “guest,” Batman, who is shown tied to a “Laugh-O-Meter,” basically an electric chair powered by laughter, something literally no one other than The Joker could have come up with. With the studio audience audience having been exposed to Joker’s laughing gas, they’ll literally laugh at anything, even the phonebook as Harley is nice enough to demonstrate. Each time Harley reads off a name, the audience laughs harder and the voltage gets stronger causing Batman to writhe in agony. There’s also this especially funny moment where Joker tries to roast a hot dog with what I assume to be the heat from Batman’s boiling flesh. Jesus! It looks like the Dark Knight is done for until Catwoman arrives to take down Joker and Harley and save the Bat before he’s roasted himself. Joker tries to escape, but Catwoman pursues, only to be taken out by Harley.

Back at the bar, Joker has apparently won both the “Almost Got ‘Im” competition as well as the poker game, although the latter was obviously due to cheating. When Croc asks what happened to Catwoman, Joker says that she’s currently being held at the Gotham pet food factory about to chopped up into cat food. I absolutely love everyone’s disturbed reaction to this. Remember, these are violent criminals who have just spent the past twenty minutes talking about their various attempts to murder a man in cold blood, but chopping someone up and feeding them to cats is apparently where they draw the line because they are all clearly horrified. However, as Joker laughs, Croc stands up and throws him across the room, all while speaking with an oddly familiar voice. In one of the most brilliantly animated moments of the episode, the lighting reveals that Croc is actually Batman in disguise, having hid amongst the criminals to learn where Joker was keeping Catwoman. With his cover blown, Ivy, Two-Face and Penguin surround him, but Batman just calmly snaps his fingers, revealing that the bar had been filled with armed GCPD officers the entire time. As the bad guys are taken away by the cops, Batman leaves to save Catwoman.

At the pet food factory, Harley Quinn is taunting Catwoman while she waits for Mister J to return and start the fun when Batman arrives telling her not to wait up. Batman makes quick work of Harley and manages to save Catwoman in the nick of time. As Harley is hauled back to Arkham, Batman and Catwoman share a moment on the roof. Catwoman wishes that their relationship could be more than just saving each other from freaks and weirdos, and that maybe that one day they’d be able to make a life together without freaks, without Gotham, maybe even without masks. For a brief moment, Batman seems tempted by the idea, but as Catwoman is distracted by a distant police siren, Batman disappears. And so our episode ends the only way it possibly can, with Catwoman saying to herself, “Almost Got ‘Im.”

I said at the top that this is my favorite episode of the series, something I'm sure is true for many fans of the show, and it’s really not difficult to see why. There’s a little something in this one for everyone. Great action, unique settings and setups and the villains playing off each other is always a delight. There are also many little things throughout the episode that just make the scenes feel more fleshed out, my favorite being how the villains poker hands and drinks of choice all seem to reflect their personality. Poison Ivy only drinks herbal tea, Two-Face drinks coffee with half and half and is usually holding a pair of twos, Joker is cheating his ass off, etc. The voice cast also does a top notch job as always. Kevin Conroy kills it as Batman like usual and we've talked at length in the past about how Mark Hamill always brought his A-Game to the role of The Joker. As for the others, Richard Moll, Arleen Sorkin, Aron Kincaid, Paul Williams, Diane Pershing and Adrienne Barbeau are all excellent. There’s also the big reveal with Croc, something I have a fan theory about. See, “I threw a Rock at Him” is kind of the moment most associated with Killer Croc across multiple incarnations of the character, so having him not actually be the one to say it never quite sat well with me. So, it’s always been my personal head cannon that Croc got up to use the bathroom some time during Penguin’s story and that’s when Batman made the switch. Maybe I’m talking out of my ass, but that’s how I see it. Mind you, it is funny to imagine Batman acting dumb like Croc the whole time, but to me, it’s funnier if it actually was Croc who got the “I threw a Rock at Him” line. Either way, this episode is a blast and I’m glad I got to revisit it with you guys. And that does it for Deep Dive DC month. Thank you all for reading, because this was a lot of fun. Come June, we’ll be back to Disney, but I would love to return to the world of DC Comics sometime in the future, so please, let me know if there are any other movies or TV episodes you’d like me to cover in the future. Next time, we go from Batman villains, to Disney villains as we revisit the topic of the Top 20 Disney Villains.